Chromium films were deposited in an industrial PVD machine, designed to coat three-dimensional (3D) objects. The machine is equipped with a substrate table that allows a planetary motion of the substrates in front of the target. Films with thickness ranging from 30 nm to 8.5 mum were deposited on Si wafers. All films are under tensile stress. The stress in the thinner films is radially symmetric. The stress in the thicker films is distinctly asymmetric. This asymmetric stress leads to an asymmetry in wafer curvature for the substrates covered with the thicker films. The thinner films exhibit a 110 fiber texture. The thicker films exhibit a "single crystal" type texture. A top view of the thicker films obtained by scanning electron microscopy shows anisotropy in grain shape. We discuss the coinciding occurrence of anisotropy in stress and microstructure. (C) 2004 American Vacuum Society.